Jamie Raskin has the right response to Pam Bondi’s firing

House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) has been an outspoken critic of Pam Bondi and the Trump Justice Department and has sought to hold the Justice Department accountable.

Raskin sparred with Bondi during the hearings, and the constitutional scholar made it clear how outraged he was at what she did to the Justice Department at Donald Trump’s direction.

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Rep. Raskin had a lot to say after Bondi was fired by Trump:

TToday, President Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi, ending a term that will be remembered as a grave betrayal not only of the Justice Department, but of the American people the department serves. As a reminder, the DOW was below 50,000.

The attorney general has the best legal job in America. The mission is justice, and the customers are the American people. But Pam Bondi gave up on this mission, indeed, she never accepted it. She never served as anything other than Donald Trump’s personal criminal defense and personal injury attorney, turning the people’s Justice Department into the president’s private instrument of revenge, targeting his critics with a bureaucratic vendetta while scuttling justice for his favored political friends and allies.

Their legacy of failure begins with the egregious purge of prosecutors who investigated Trump’s pet crimes, including those committed by the Jan. 6 cop thugs and insurrectionists and by Trump himself. Career civil servants were forced out of the Justice Department not for violating the law, but for complying with it. The purge of real prosecutors has corrupted the Justice Department and compromised the safety of all Americans.

This shameful legacy is cemented by their grotesque misuse of the Epstein files. She carried out a historic and egregious cover-up directly from the Justice Department. Investigations against co-conspirators were closed. It withheld three million pages of documents in defiance of the law. The names of the perpetrators, supporters, accomplices and co-conspirators were removed from public view, while the identities of the victims were made available to the public. Under Bondi, the perpetrators were coddled and the survivors were pushed into the background.

Read more from Raskin below.

Meryl Streep on Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan NSFW Mamma Mia remark

Oh mom, Colin Firth He had to take a moment when he saw his co-star for the first time Pierce Brosnan made of elastane.

Actually, Meryl Streep– who, alongside the actors in “Mamma Mia!” from 2008. and its 2018 sequel Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again – said the Oscar winner couldn’t resist a raunchy joke after seeing the former James Bond in a skin-tight bodysuit for numbers “Dancing Queen” and “Waterloo.”

“I don’t think Colin Firth ever recovered from that moment in spandex,” she said jokingly Stephen Colbert during her April 1 appearance on The Late Show. “I remember when Pierce Broman and him came out of the locker rooms and looked each other up and down.”

Meryl continued: “And Colin said, ‘I need socks.'”

What the rumored Mamma Mia! Threequel? The 76-year-old will endure anything and jokes: “Hell yes!”

And Meryl isn’t the only one screaming “give me, give me, give me” to another episode ABBA-followed musical film franchise. Pierce, who played one of her three on-screen lovers, is also there.

Eli Lilly reaches deal to carry AI-developed medication to international market

A drone view shows the Eli Lilly logo on the company’s office in San Diego, California, November 21, 2025.

Mike Blake | Reuters

BEIJING – US pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly has struck a $2.75 billion deal to bring drugs developed using artificial intelligence by Hong Kong-based Insilico Medicine to the global market.

According to the companies’ announcement on Monday, the deal will see Insilico receive $115 million upfront, with the remainder subject to regulatory and commercial milestones as well as royalties on future sales.

Insilico has developed at least 28 drugs using generative AI tools, almost half of which are already in the clinical stage, Insilico founder and CEO Alex Zhavoronkov told CNBC. The company went public in Hong Kong in December. Its shares are up more than 50% since the start of the year.

“In many ways, Lilly is better than us in some areas of AI,” Zhavoronkov said, pointing out that the US pharmaceutical giant has “a person” who has combined biology, chemistry and automation. He added that as part of the deal, Insilico will join Lilly’s Gateway Labs community for biotech development.

The two companies have been working together since signing a licensing agreement for AI-based software in 2023.

“This collaboration allows us to explore new mechanisms and accelerate the identification of promising therapeutics.” C“Andidates across multiple disease areas,” Andrew Adams, group vice president of Molecule Discovery at Lilly, said in a statement. He called Insilico’s AI-powered discovery “a powerful addition” to Lilly’s clinical development.

Eli Lilly CEO David A. Ricks attended a high-level forum in Beijing earlier this month, just weeks after the company announced plans to invest $3 billion in China over the next decade. The company reported that a little less than 3% of its sales came from China last year.

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Insilico develops its AI outside of China, in Canada and the Middle East, but conducts early preclinical drug development in China based on that AI research, Zhavoronkov said. He said that in addition to reducing research time, AI can synthesize molecules faster than those discovered using more traditional methods.

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WTI and Brent as merchants assess Trump’s feedback on Iran struggle

A general view of the oil terminal of Kharg Island, 25 km from the Iranian coast in the Persian Gulf and 483 km northwest of the Strait of Hormuz, in Iran on March 12, 2017.

Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images

Oil prices fluctuated in volatile trading on Tuesday as traders assessed President Donald Trump’s alleged statements about ending the war in Iran.

Trump told advisers that he was ready to end US operations against Iran even if the Strait of Hormuz remained closed, as the need to force Tehran to reopen the oil bottleneck could prolong the conflict, the Wall Street Journal reported late Monday in the US.

West Texas Intermediate futures for May delivery were down 0.5% at $102.3 a barrel at 4:20 a.m. ET. May Brent crude futures rose 0.16% to $112.9 a barrel after paring declines.

“The president’s desire for a large-scale, extensive bombing of Iran is pretty low,” Matt Gertken, chief geopolitical strategist at BCA Research, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Tuesday, describing Trump’s recent threats as an attempt to “back off and make a deal.”

“[Trump] requires at least highly enriched uranium. That is [something] “The Iranians could actually deliver and in return maintain the survival of the regime,” Gertken said, adding that there was no chance the U.S. would carry out a full-scale ground invasion.

“But if we don’t get it within two weeks, [Trump] will have to escalate…target the core [Iranian] Regime elements, and that will lead to higher collateral damage.”

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Brent

Trump had previously threatened to expand attacks on Iran’s civilian energy infrastructure, including water desalination plants, if Tehran failed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump said Monday that if Tehran does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz and agree to a peace deal to end the war, “we will complete our beautiful ‘stay’ in Iran with the blowing up and complete destruction” of power plants, oil facilities and “possibly” desalination infrastructure, according to a Truth Social post.

The Iran war is entering its fifth week and hostilities are escalating across the region. Tehran struck a fully loaded Kuwaiti oil tanker in the anchorage area of ​​Dubai port early Tuesday.

“The relevant authorities in Dubai have confirmed the success of the teams in extinguishing the fire that hit a Kuwaiti oil tanker,” said a social media post from the Dubai government.

This incident suggests the Islamic Republic is further tightening its grip on the Strait of Hormuz and targeting tankers just outside the waterway, said Ben Emons, CIO at Fed Watch Advisors, pointing to renewed risks of further disruption to energy flows.

“The result is a more asymmetrical game, with the U.S. leaning towards exit and Iran still having incentives to impose costs,” Emons said.

Trump regularly vacillated between hailing talks with Iran as productive and warning that he was ready to send more forces to the region.

He told reporters on Monday that Tehran had agreed to “most” of the 15-point ceasefire proposal put forward by the US, while Tehran had publicly rejected the terms and responded with its own terms, including maintaining control of the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump has also reportedly considered the option of sending ground troops to capture Kharg Island, a key fuel hub that handles 90% of Iran’s crude oil exports.

Shipping traffic across the Hormuz Waterway, which typically carried a fifth of global oil shipments by sea before the conflict, has virtually come to a standstill since the war began on February 28.

Experts warn that a possible ground operation to capture Kharg Island risks increasing U.S. casualties and prolonging the cost and length of the war.

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The worth of Pokémon playing cards will increase through the Logan Paul Pikachu public sale

Pokémon cards are no longer just childhood collectibles.

Some owners are increasingly treating the popular trading cards of the 1990s and 2000s like alternative assets, with some of the rarest cards outperforming traditional benchmarks like the S&P 500 in recent years.

During key periods like the pandemic boom and another surge in 2025, trading card indexes that track Pokémon sales posted gains well above the S&P 500’s long-term average annual return of 10% to 12%, according to trading card valuation tool Card Ladder. The comparison isn’t perfect – stock data spans decades, while trends in trading card stocks are shorter and more volatile – but the outperformance in certain time frames is still notable.

The price increase is due to scarcity, quality and a rush of deep-pocketed buyers looking for a limited supply of prime assets.

At the top end, this dynamic is clear. A rare Pikachu Illustrator card owned by influencer and wrestler Logan Paul sold for more than $16 million in February, setting a record for the most expensive trading card ever sold at auction.

“There are certain individuals who try to acquire the rarest, highest quality cards and keep them off the market for as long as possible,” said auctioneer Ken Goldin, whose online marketplace is owned by eBayshipped and sold Paul’s rare Pokémon card. “It is possible that this map will never be offered for sale again in our lifetime.”

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Rare Pokémon card designed by Atsuko Nishida.

Courtesy: Goldin

This supply shortage explains why prices can rise and why a small portion of the market accounts for most of the profits.

In particular, a card’s condition, which determines its grade on a scale of up to 10, can determine its value, Goldin added.

“You can get a card with a grade of 10 [perfect score] “And no one cares if the underlying map isn’t important,” Goldin said. “But if you have the right card, the condition becomes critical – especially in Pokémon, where there is a huge reward for a 10.”

That premium can be extreme, Goldin said. A $100,000 card in perfect condition graded by Professional Sports Authenticator, the leading authentication and grading company, might only receive 1% or 2% of that value in much worse condition.

Except for the rarest cards, private investors and collectors are reopening their dusty collector’s books from 20 or more years ago and hoping to strike gold. The boom in ticket sales accelerated during the pandemic as stimulus money and interest in alternative assets surged. Spending on non-sports trading cards, including Pokémon, increased 350% between 2020 and 2025, according to market research firm Circana. At the same time, celebrities like Post Malone, Steve Aoki and Kevin O’Leary were gaining mainstream attention.

“We’re seeing people use this as an alternative investment opportunity and asset allocation option,” Goldin said. “Whether this will become more institutional over time remains to be decided.”

However, the risk remains for hopeful investors in the market. The same forces that drive profits also create risk. Prices are volatile, heavily influenced by hype, and card prices lack the stability and track record of traditional markets.

Still, some highly sought-after Pokémon cards continue to outperform the market.

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Epstein victims obtain $72.5 million in settlement with Financial institution of America

A Bank of America branch in New York, USA, on Saturday, October 11, 2025.

Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Bank of America has agreed to pay $72.5 million to victims of notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging the bank facilitated his sex trafficking operation, according to a New York federal court filing Friday evening.

The settlement, in which BoA did not admit wrongdoing, is the fourth settlement by a major bank of legal claims brought by Epstein victims or a government agency who allege they effectively facilitated human trafficking while he was a customer. The settlement with BoA must be approved by U.S. District Court in Manhattan Judge Jed Rakoff; such approval is usually granted.

The settlement would pay “all women who were sexually abused or trafficked between June 30, 2008 and July 6, 2019, by Jeffrey Epstein or a person associated with or otherwise associated with Jeffrey Epstein or a sex trafficking enterprise operated by Jeffrey Epstein,” the filing said.

Lawyers in the case “are aware that there were at least 60 women who were victims of Epstein between these dates,” the filing said.

A Bank of America spokesman said in a statement: “While we stand by our prior statements on the record in this case, including that Bank of America did not facilitate sex trafficking crimes, this resolution allows us to put this matter behind us and provides further closure for plaintiffs.”

CNBC has reached out to the two law firms that represented the victims in the lawsuit filed in October 2025, Boies Schiller Flexner and Edwards Henderson, for comment.

Previous bank statements

Read more about the Jeffrey Epstein files

However, Deutsche Bank said at the time of the settlement: “We are aware of our error in onboarding Epstein in 2013 and the weaknesses in our processes and have learned from our mistakes and shortcomings.”

These three previous lawsuits, like the current one against BoA, were filed in federal court in Manhattan.

What was alleged in the lawsuit

The lead plaintiff in the Bank of America case, who filed suit under the pseudonym Jane Doe, is a Russian native who met Epstein in 2011.

The complaint against BoA said that “beginning this year through 2019, Epstein sexually abused Jane Doe at least 100 times, including by forcibly touching her, forcibly raping her, and forcing her to engage in sexual acts with other women for his own depraved sexual gratification.”

The lawsuit says that in May 2013, at the direction of Epstein’s accountant Richard Kahn and an immigration lawyer, Jane Doe opened a bank account at Bank of America to defraud immigration officials.

The lawsuit states that “a recent investigation into Epstein’s crimes revealed that, among other things, billionaire Wall Street financier Leon Black paid Epstein $170 million for purported ‘tax and estate planning advice’ from his Bank of America account.”

In 2023, Black agreed to pay the U.S. Virgin Islands $62.5 million, and in return the government released him from any possible legal claims related to Epstein.

“At the core of the amended complaint, lead plaintiff alleges that Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking enterprise was facilitated and enabled [Bank of America] We help Epstein evade regulators’ scrutiny and provide Epstein withdrawal and transfer services so that defendant can benefit from Epstein and his associates,” the settlement filing states.

“Lead plaintiff further alleges that defendant’s support of Epstein’s sex trafficking enterprise prevented authorities from uncovering his illegal scheme and increased Epstein’s access to and control over victims, thereby causing harm to the group’s members,” the lawsuit states.

The bank “has expressly denied and continues to deny that it was in any way involved in or otherwise aided, abetted or facilitated the Epstein sex trafficking enterprise or that it engaged in obstruction.”

Epstein, 66, took his own life in a federal prison in Manhattan in August 2019, just weeks after he was arrested on child trafficking charges.

He previously pleaded guilty in a Florida court in 2008 to soliciting an underage girl for prostitution and ended up serving 13 months in prison.

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Miss Thailand Contestant’s Enamel Fall Out: Video

But she’s not the only star to suffer a dental accident on stage. Just ask LeAnn Rimeswhose artificial tooth fell out during a performance last year.

“I was on stage in the middle of ‘One Way Ticket’ [and] “I feel something pop in my mouth,” she recalled in an Instagram video in June. “I’ve had a lot of dental surgery and I have a bridge in the front that fell out in the middle of a song.”

Although the Grammy winner admittedly “panicked,” the show still went on. As she put it, “She ran to the side of the stage, pushed it back in, and then just kept singing.”

“I had to be honest with everyone and tell them exactly what was going on,” LeAnn added, “otherwise I would have had to leave the stage.”

Read on to learn how other celebrities handled their onstage surprises.

Pfizer’s Lyme illness vaccine fails trial, firm applies for FDA approval

Thomas Fuller | Photo only | Getty Images

Pfizer On Monday, the company said it would seek regulatory approval for a Lyme disease vaccine candidate, even though the shot failed in a late-stage trial.

Pfizer said the vaccine missed the study’s statistical target because not enough people in the study had Lyme disease to rely on the results. Still, the company said the shot reduced the infection rate by more than 70% in people who received the vaccine compared to placebo. The company believes the effectiveness is strong enough to report to regulators.

“The greater than 70% efficacy shown in the VALOR study is extremely encouraging and provides confidence in the vaccine’s potential to protect against this disease, which can be debilitating,” Pfizer Chief Vaccines Officer Annaliesa Anderson said in a statement.

A Lyme disease vaccine is not expected to be a bestseller for Pfizer. Corporate partner Valneva estimates peak annual sales at $1 billion. Pfizer expects total sales of around $60 billion this year, with the Covid-19 vaccine accounting for more than $5 billion of that forecast.

But Pfizer had cited the Lyme disease vaccine results as one of its key catalysts this year, and they represented an opportunity to introduce the only human vaccine against Lyme disease.

Advancing a shot that technically leaves a clinical trial doomed to failure under an administration that has preached tighter control of vaccines could prove risky for Pfizer and could serve as a litmus test for vaccination policy in the United States

Lyme disease is a disease caused by bacteria that are most commonly transmitted to humans by ticks. It can cause arthritis, muscle weakness and pain. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about half a million Americans are diagnosed or treated for Lyme disease each year.

Despite the spread of the disease, particularly in the Northeast, there is no vaccine for humans. A company that would later become GSK introduced a vaccine called LYMErix in 1998, but withdrew it just a few years later after public concerns about safety fueled demand. This experience hindered the development of Lyme vaccines for humans, although several companies now make them for dogs.

Pfizer and Valneva suffered their own setbacks. In 2023, the companies withdrew approximately half of the Phase 3 trial participants due to quality concerns with the third-party clinical trial site operator, Care Access. Initially around 18,000 people were involved in the study, but after the cuts there were ultimately around 9,400. Care Access rejected the allegations of quality violations.

The companies’ vaccine targets the outer surface protein A of the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. A vaccinated person produces antibodies that are passed on to a tick and prevent the bacteria from being transmitted from the tick to humans. The series includes three vaccinations in the first year and then a booster dose the following year.

The companies said they found no safety concerns with the trial.

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Republicans block Democratic push to subpoena Trump Jr

Donald Trump Jr. and Zach Witkoff of World Liberty Financial at Token2049, a major crypto conference in Singapore, on Wednesday, October 1, 2025.

Waxman

Republicans on the House Natural Resources Subcommittee blocked a Democratic request to subpoena Donald Trump Jr., President Donald Trump’s eldest son, for supporting critical mineral companies.

President Trump’s administration is attempting to rapidly increase production of critical minerals in the United States. Vulcan Elements, a rare-earth magnet maker backed by Trump Jr.’s 1789 Capital, received a $620 million federal loan from the Defense Department last year.

Democrats on the panel tried to subpoena the younger Trump to force his testimony on the Vulcan deal. The hearing, called by the majority of Republicans on the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, was titled “Unleashing America’s Mineral Potential: The Supply Chain for Critical Mineral Resources.”

“We are tired of waiting for Republicans to fulfill their oversight obligations,” said Rep. Maxine Dexter, D-Ore., the top Democrat on the subcommittee, as she made the subpoena request. “Donald Trump Jr. must be held accountable over whether the president’s son illegally profited from his father’s presidency.”

Read more about CNBC’s politics coverage

Dexter also called for Patrick Witt of the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital to be subpoenaed. After this story was published, the committee told CNBC that Dexter incorrectly named Vulcan Materials CEO Ronnie Pruitt. She wanted to subpoena the CEO of Vulcan Elements, John Maslin, the company that supports Donald Trump Jr.

Trump’s family business relationships came under intense scrutiny during his second term, particularly the investment activities of his sons Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. Democrats have warned that they could benefit financially if the companies they support win lucrative contracts from her father’s administration.

Republican subcommittee Chairman Paul Gosar, R-Arizona, immediately put the committee into a nearly hour-long recess following the motion. After his return, Gosar filed the request for a subpoena. The motion was submitted with a vote of 5:2. Republicans control the subcommittee 5-3.

Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., then immediately moved to adjourn the subcommittee hearing after the resolution was filed.

Natural Resources Committee member Jared Huffman, D-California, warned that the problem “is not going away.”

“You can take these actions, but you can’t hide, you can’t shirk responsibility,” Huffman said.

The subcommittee then adjourned by a vote of 5-2.

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Bernie Sanders and AOC need to ban new AI information facilities

Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez led the way, sounding the alarm about the threat AI poses to American workers, the environment and communities.

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For example, in a recent letter calling on Amazon’s Jeff Bezos to testify before Congress, Senator Sanders wrote:

As you know, the pace of technological advancement in robotics, automation and artificial intelligence (AI) has increased rapidly in recent years. These revolutionary technologies will have a profound impact on the lives of virtually every worker in America.

Our job is to ensure that this new technology benefits working families and is not simply used as another tool to make the world’s wealthiest people unimaginably richer… The American people are increasingly concerned about the impact that AI and robotics will have on the economy and their lives. Congress must act. The HELP Committee must act.

Sanders and AOC will take the first steps toward these needed actions by unveiling new legislation on Wednesday.

Read more below

Senator Sanders’ office announced:

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DN.Y.) will announce the Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act on Wednesday to ensure AI benefits workers, is safe and effective, and does not harm communities or destroy the environment.